The strike left a large crater at a factory that was used to stockpile weaponry, according to Moscow.
The Russian military targeted the Kredmash vehicle plant in the Ukrainian city of Kremenchug, according to the chairman of the factory's supervisory board, Nikolay Danileyko. The shopping mall was destroyed in a blaze after the missile strike, with 18 killed and over 50 injured, with 18 people reported dead and over 50 injured.
Danileyko told local media that the factory was a civilian facility and had not produced military vehicles or parts for them since 1989. He said that the workers of the plant were not injured in the attack.
Footage from the scene aired by local media shows a large crater in the middle of one of the factory's hangars. The strike caused heavy damage to the building, blowing away parts of its roof and walls and rupturing underground piping.
The Russian military maintained that it had targeted a stockpile of Western-supplied weaponry on the premises of the Kredmash plant, despite Kiev being quick to accuse Moscow of deliberately attacking the shopping mall itself. The Russian military said that the second detonation of the destroyed weapons sparked a fire that spread to the shopping mall.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky claimed the shopping mall was tightly packed, with more than a thousand civilians visiting it at the time of the strike. Footage from the scene taken moments after the strike showed that the parking lot by the mall was almost empty, with several armed individuals in military uniform roaming the premises.
The mayor of Kremenchug blamed the operators of the venue's operators for the civilian casualties, accusing them of ignoring a warning of an imminent air attack.
The tragedy in Amstor mall showed that Ukraine is at war and ignoring an air raid alert is a crime, as the mayor, Vitaly Maletsky, wrote on social media.